Jeanette Smith said she doesn't believe the government has a right to make decisions about her body. She pointed out that no one wants to have to have an abortion.

Credit Carrie Jung

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico joined several other groups today to announce the launch of Respect ABQ Women. The campaign is an effort to defeat a proposed ballot initiative that would ban late term abortions in Albuquerque.

Women’s advocacy groups and an alliance of community organizations met with supporters to launch the initiative in response to an effort by anti abortion activists to get the “Unborn Child Protection” ordinance on Albuquerque’s October city ballot.

Micah McCoy, of ACLU-New Mexico, said the proposed law is unconstitutional, added the state should continue to respect a woman’s right to choose. "The decision whether to end a pregnancy," he stressed, "belongs between a woman and her physician. The government has no business interfering in that very personal decision."

Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life said her group has turned in more than double the number of signatures needed to put the measure to voters. Shaver said Albuquerque is being targeted because it’s home to one of the few clinics in the country that offers late term abortions.